Package management

From Wikitech

Wikimedia uses Ubuntu and Debian for its infrastructure. Libraries, modules and software are usually provided as a Debian package which is then uploaded on our APT repository.

Various frameworks exist to simplify the packaging of software in the Debian package format (which is equally used by Ubuntu). The most commonly used framework is debhelper. It consists of a set of commands to individual sub tasks all labeled dh_* and a command sequencer called dh. While it's possible to run all dh_* commands manually, using the dh sequence covers many tasks mostly automatically, simplifying the package build.

The Introduction to Debian Packaging tutorial provides a compact introduction to creating a Debian package using dh.

The following links provide further references wrt Debian packaging (several of which are only relevant in corner cases or if you intend to create a package for the Debian archive):